in the British Museum, §c. 541 



men in my own collection shows, when etched, on a small scale 

 the beautiful crystalline figures of the Toluca iron, 



10. Scriba, Oswego County, New York, described by Professor 

 Shepard in 1841 (Sill. Journal, vol. xl. p. 366). — No proper ana- 

 lysis appears to have been made of this iron ; and latterly it has 

 been placed among the doubtful or pseudo-meteorites at Vienna, 

 as well as in Professor Shepard's private collection. A qualitative 

 analysis recently made of this iron by my friend Professor Heddle 

 of St. Andrews, Fife, showed that it contained — 



Traces. 



Iron. 



Silicon 



Nickel. 



Sulphur 



Aluminium. 



Carbon 



Calcium. 



Phosphorus ? 



Potassium (? potash). 



Tin? 



Sodium, traces. 





J 



There were no traces of either cobalt, chromium, or manganese. 



This iron possesses no regular crystalline structure ; but never- 

 theless when etched it shows a peculiar moire antique surface, 

 with a finely scaly or nacreous structure. In this it curiously 

 resembles the Otumpa iron, of which there is so characteristic 

 and well-prepared a specimen in the collection at Vienna. The 

 specimen of the latter in the British Museum requires being cut 

 and polished to show these characteristics. 



There are several other meteoric specimens in the British 

 Museum, of which Mr. Maskelyne is publishing particulars. Of 

 newly discovered or described meteoric stones there are two, 

 neither of which are as yet represented in collections in this 

 country, but to which I may very briefly allude in this place. 



First. A specimen deposited in the Museum at St. Petersburg, 

 from the northern side of the Caucasian Mountains : this stone 

 fell near Stauropal, 26th March 1857. I believe some particulars 

 of the fall have been published in one of the St. Petersburg 

 scientific journals. 



Secondlij. A meteoric stone of some 21 lbs. fell at Meno near 

 PUrstenberg in Mecklenburg, at 12^ p.m., with a tremendous 

 noise, on the 7th October last : it was coated with crust, contains 

 iron, the sp. gr. being about 4'0. It fell into some sand, close 

 to the feet of a peasant. 



This is the first mention of any meteoric fall this year, the 

 usual average being seven or eight falls. 



Meteoric showers. — The usual displays of shooting stars this 

 year, as seen near Manchester, have not been as well marked as 

 usual; that of August 10-11 perhaps less so than those for the 

 last few years, but the weather was not very favourable ; that of 

 November 9-10 was not in the least marked, either as regards 



